


Bad Days

by Zoe_Nightshade_Rules



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Orion is a JERK, Physical Abuse, Pre-Relationship, Verbal Abuse, maybe fluff?, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:46:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26699251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoe_Nightshade_Rules/pseuds/Zoe_Nightshade_Rules
Summary: Not every relationship works out and not everybody gets their fairytale ending right away. Artemis learns this the hard way but luckily Zoë is there to help.
Relationships: Artemis/Orion (Percy Jackson), Artemis/Zoë Nightshade (Percy Jackson)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Bad Days

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, in case you haven't put much thought into the tags, this isn't a happy fic. Just a warning. 
> 
> Trigger Warnings:  
> Domestic Violence  
> Physical/Emotional/Verbal Abuse  
> Possibly Attempted Rape
> 
> If you still want to read this you can, I've put lines above and below a few passages where Artemis described her relationship with Orion, skip if it makes you uncomfortable. The rest majority of the fic is just Zoë taking care of Artemis after the fight. You've been warned.

Zoë was hunched over her textbook and her computer, studying for an upcoming test in her Criminal Justice class. The only light in the room was the yellow of her lamp and the dull white of her computer screen, causing her eyes to strain when she read her notes and when she reviewed passages in her textbook. She had a minor headache from three too many coffees and too little sleep. Next to her were several almost empty cups of coffee, which she went out to get as a way to wake herself up a bit, and a box of greasy takeout. 

The rest of the room was clean to the point that it was weird, especially for a college student such as herself. Her clothes were all tucked into her dresser and her bed was made so perfectly that there wasn’t a single wrinkle. Beyond that was the small wooden table, supposedly a dining table was so clean it shone. The uncomfortable grey couch didn’t have a single stain on it and the throw pillows were placed in the corners. Finally, the fridge that constantly gave a steady hum was near empty and the oven was almost never used; both an ugly greenish-blue from the 80’s with a counter to match all were as clean as she could get with all the stains. 

All of this was before Zoë realized that she didn’t want to become a lawyer and dropped half her classes and started new ones in order to pursue a profession in the secret services. This was when her father was willing to pay for these things in order to progress his favorite daughter's career. Before Zoë told him that she didn’t want to be a lawyer and that she decided to go to school in order to join the secret service. Before she told him that he wouldn’t be getting a grandchild. Before she told him that she didn’t like men. Before her entire family except for her dear sister Calypso, disowned her, took away her allowance, and left her for the wolves. 

Zoë was shocked out of her studying when the rapid but quiet knocks came from the door and the ever so soft call of her name that Zoë almost didn’t catch. Zoë jumped at the sudden sound but pushed away from her messy desk in order to answer the door. She stretched against the chair, back arching and hands in the air, yawning while her back popped back into place. The knocking came again, but more desperate this time, and her name sounded more like a plea.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Zoë called through the door as she padded the two dozen paces across her apartment and to the door. Palming her eyes in order to wake up more, in the process she skews her glasses leaving them lopsided across her face and put uncomfortable pressure on her nose. She undead the locks with deft fingers despite her unawareness, leaving the chain as she looked through the crack of the door. 

Standing outside was her best friend, dressed in a baggy grey sweatshirt, which Zoë swore belonged to her at one point, and sweatpants. The sleeves were pulled over her hands and crossed over her body as she hugged herself tightly. The hood was up, concealing her face but Zoë could see faint tear tracks on the parts of her friend's face that weren’t covered by shadows.

Zoë hadn’t seen Artemis in over a month due to conflicting schedules and other things and they hadn’t spoken for a few days so her sudden appearance was a surprise. Zoë soon shook herself out of her daze, something that she blamed on the lack of sleep, and undid the last lock before hurrying the girl in. She tossed her glasses onto one of the counters knowing she probably wouldn’t be needing them for a while.

Artemis hurried in, her head down, and angled away from Zoë as she passed her and sat rigidly on the couch. Zoë followed her slowly, confused by the sudden intrusion and unsettled by her friend's obvious distress. She flicked on one of the lights as she went.

“Is something wrong?” Zoë asked in a whisper.

Artemis seemed to curl into herself further and hug herself tighter, Zoë could see her fingers digging into her side in a way that must be painful. Zoë felt dread seep into her bones. She perched on the couch next to Artemis and gently turned her face towards herself. Zoë’s stomach dropped when she saw her friend's puffy lip covered in half-dried blood.

Zoë pushed the hoodie off and away from Artemis’ face with shaking hands. Artemis’ eyes were puffy, red, and full of barely contained tears while her eyes remained firmly planted on her lap. The left side of her lip was cut and sluggishly leaking blood. It was swollen and Zoë knew it would be purple by the morning. But that wasn’t even the worst of it. Her right eye was noticeably more swollen than the other and not because of the tears. It was already turning an ugly purple and more blood was welling from a small cut near her eyebrow. Zoë gut was churning and an ugly feeling was coming from it, something black and twisted. She felt bile rising in her throat, because  _ who would do this to her _ . And if her stomach had dropped to her feet at the sight of the cut lip, it had dropped twenty floors at the sight of her eye. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know where to go and I,” Artemis rushed to explain as tears started to fall and Zoë could see her hands tightening on her side. 

“Shhh, shhh,” Zoë reassured and it was the only thing she could do because she was afraid if she tried to form words, it would only result in angry words directed at the wrong person and misunderstandings. She gathered Artemis' hands into hers to prevent her from hurting herself further, holding them in both hands and thumbing the smooth skin in an attempt to relax her.

Zoë gently placed Artemis’ hands onto her lap and stood up, stopping only when Artemis gave her a frantic look, one of a scared and cornered animal. Zoë gave her a reassuring smile and brushed the escaped hair from her messy ponytail away from her forehead. Artemis tensed against the sudden touch and the ugly feeling in Zoë’s gut intensified. She softly pressed her lips on Artemis' forehead, careful to not put too much pressure in case it irritated any of the bruises. Artemis slumped against the gentle touch, leaning her head against the soft lips and the hands-on either side of her head. 

Zoë pulled away and walked to her bathroom, where she kept her outdated first aid kit that she’d gotten from a first aid class she’d taken as a freshman in high school. Her fists were clenched hard enough that her nail dug into the flesh of her palms and it stung, but it was the only way she could think of to dispel the overwhelming rage she felt. She had to stop at the mirror to look at herself as she hastily wiped away stray tears that came with the anger. Who would do this to such an amazing woman, Artemis, who donated a dollar,  _ at least _ , to children's hospitals whenever asked and always stopped at those lemonade stands, giving double the cost for the crappy lemonade just because she loved kids so much. The terrible thing was, Zoë was pretty sure she knew who, and if it was who she thought, it made Zoë a million times angrier. 

When Zoë returned to the couch, Artemis was exactly where she left her. She was fiddling with her finger quietly and she seemed to have stopped crying, but still refused to look anywhere but down. Zoë let her be for a minute while she unpacked the first aid kit and pulled out what she needed.

Zoë pulled on latex gloves and started working on the cut on her eye first. She cleaned the cut with an alcohol wipe first, wincing when Artemis hissed and muttering an apologetic sorry. Zoë’s heart clenched at the thought of causing Artemis more pain. She put gauze and tape over the cut, deciding a bandaid wouldn’t cut it when blood kept seeping from the wound even after she put a bit of pressure on it. She worked in silence at first in hope that Artemis would explain what had happened.

Zoë tilted Artemis’ chin up to get a better look at the other wound. The sight of the bloodied lip seemed to fill Zoë with more rage, reminding her that whoever hit Artemis deemed themselves worthy to hit her not once, but  _ twice _ . She wiped away the small bit of blood from under the cut, the latex rubbing uncomfortably against both of their skins. She looks into Artemis’ eyes for the second time that night with a hard gaze, unable to hide the anger anymore. Zoë speaks for the first time that night, and her voice is quiet and tense, her voice shakes with anger that is barely restrained.

“Who did this to you?”

Artemis looks away from Zoë, eyes flitting nervously around the apartment for the first time in a long while. Her gaze lingers on the bloodied wipe and the open first aid kit before they snap back to Zoë’s cold eye then down to her hands, then up again in an uncomfortable pattern. 

“He did this, didn’t he?” Zoë’s voice is icy and she hopes Artemis knows it’s not directed at her. Zoë’s had her suspicions since the beginning, starting from when Artemis’ father had introduced them and Orion had looked at Artemis with a sick glint in his eyes up to when Artemis stopped hanging out with Zoë as much, giving the excuse that she was tired or needed to study. She’d thought it’d been getting better because Artemis and Zoë had hung out so much over the summer, but maybe he was just busy and couldn’t monitor Artemis constantly. 

Artemis dipped her head in an almost imperceptible nod. 

“You know what this means right?” Zoë’s tone was much softer now and she ran her fingers feather-light along the side of her lip and the bruise on her eye for clarification. Inside Zoë was screaming expletives at the bastard, cursing his very existence.  _ How dare he _ .

Another nod but this time Artemis met her eyes and inside them was a steely resolve. 

“Please tell me you’re breaking up with him,” Zoë asked in a whisper, feeling if she was any louder Artemis might spook. She hoped that because Artemis knew what Orion hitting her meant, she’d be smart enough to break up with him. Zoë’d heard and read about people who thought that their significant others hitting them was because they deserved it and it was their fault, that they’d made them angry. She hoped and hoped and hoped that this wasn’t the case.

Artemis nodded again, this time she did it faster and with more movement as if to _reassure_ _Zoë_.

Zoë had to prevent herself from jumping up and dancing around in glee, or even whispering a quiet, thank the gods, instead, she continued to gently question her friend, “Has he hit you before?”

Artemis shook her head no before pausing and nodding her head yes uncertainty.

“He has?”

A definite nod.

“How many times?” Zoë growled, her anger flaring again.

“Once before, he he hit me before, at the start of school, but he didn’t he didn’t do it again for months so I for- forgot about it, but he ca-came home angry today and and,” Artemis tried to explain, but tears and hiccups came instead.

“Shhh, shhh, it’s ok, how about I finish cleaning this up, get you some ice and then we can talk about it,” Zoë offered before faltering, Artemis didn’t  _ have  _ to talk about it tonight, if it was too soon, “Only if you want to though.”

Artemis nodded again in agreement, wiping at her tears frustratedly. 

Zoë got to work again, wiping the remainder of the blood on her lip with a disinfectant wipe and giving Artemis half-smiles whenever her uncertain watery gaze met Zoës. She didn’t put anything on the small cut on her lip, it would only become uncomfortable. She packed the first aid kit away but left it on the coffee table and tossed the used supplies. She filled a plastic baggie with ice and wrapped it in a towel to keep the biting cold off of Artemis's sensitive skin. 

“Do you wanna sleep here tonight?” Zoë asked as she handed the makeshift ice pack to Artemis, who took it gently and held it a millimeter away from the wound. Hissing when the soft and cold cloth hit her sore skin. 

“If that's okay?” Artemis replied, looking at Zoë with hopeful eyes and Zoë could never say no to that face.

“Definitely, now or later?” Zoë grinned, which Artemis returned without a question. Zoë took it for a sign that everything would be okay eventually. 

“Now? If you weren’t doing anything before I came.”

“No, I wasn’t doing anything, I was just browsing youtube,” Zoë lied awkwardly, but she could fail her test for all it mattered. This was much more important. “Do you want to borrow any sleep clothes?”

“Any shorts I could borrow?”

Zoë smiled and helped Artemis up as she wiped away what would hopefully be the last of the tears tonight. She dug through her clothes to find some basketball shorts for Artemis and produced bright red ones, which Artemis raised her eyebrows at but took anyway. Zoë sat on her full-sized bed and ran a shaky hand through her hair. The easy-going smile vanished from her face once Artemis was out of view. The anger and guilt and just plain sadness at the situation coming to the forefront of her mind again. She’d pushed it down while she finished treating Artemis’ cuts but it was back with a vengeance. Anger at the entire situation and towards Artemis’ jerk of a boyfriend who thought it smart to hit her. Guilt at not fully understanding what was happening, ignoring the signs that presented to her in a countless number of ways and times. Sadness because it happened to Artemis, and sure she was a big girl but it didn’t mean it didn’t  _ suck _ . 

Artemis came out of the bathroom, her sweatpants in hand and bright red shorts on, and she looked ridiculous, which Artemis seemed to know because a laugh bubbled out of her lips when she saw the look on Zoës face. Zoë smiled at the sound because it meant that maybe things would be all right. 

Zoë turned off all of the lights and closed her laptop, but left the lamp on because she knew that Artemis was afraid of the dark and it would be worse tonight. They both wiggled under the blankets, under the comforter and the two duvets because Zoë got cold at night and they nestled under the layers and faced each other, curled into half balls. 

___

After a few minutes of silence, Artemis explained her relationship with Orion unprompted under the cover of night. She’d explained how he had been controlling from the start, but she hadn’t thought anything of it because it was her first relationship. (The ‘boyfriend’ in middle school didn’t count because they were friends, but boys and girls weren’t supposed to be friends, even more so in middle school, so they told everybody they were dating.) She told Zoë about how Orion hadn’t wanted her seeing any of her male friends and he definitely hadn’t wanted her seeing Zoë. He hadn’t liked how close the two were. Artemis had known something was wrong but she’d wanted to make her dad happy, she knew that not becoming a doctor like her twin or a politician like Athena hadn’t pleased him, so dating Orion was her compromise. Soon Orion had started criticizing everything Artemis did and blamed her when they were even a minute late for a date. He’d called her names and told her that she should change degrees because teaching was stupid. Orion had told her that she couldn’t see her friends if she didn’t do a certain thing. And he always guilt-tripped her into kissing him.

A few months ago Artemis told Zoë that he started getting frustrated and had said it was because Artemis wouldn’t have sex with him. It was on one of the nights that she’d said no to him that he had hit her for the first time. After that, he had grovelled for a few weeks and was actually a good boyfriend. A month or two after that incident Artemis discovered he was cheating on her, when Artemis had confronted him about it he’d said it was because of her. He told her that he had needs and if Artemis wouldn’t do her ‘duty’ he’d find somebody who would. Artemis had felt guilty and pretended to not know when she caught him cheating on her after that.

Artemis explained how tonight he’d been out drinking with his buddies and she’d been watching Netflix when he came home. She’d described how he’d started hollering as soon as he closed the door, how he’d stumbled over with what he thought was a sexy grin and slurred about how he wanted to have sex but Artemis told her that all she could think of at the time was how gross the alcohol smelled on his breath. When Artemis had told him no, she described how he seemed to sober up and get an angry glint in his eye.

_ ‘What do you mean no?” He’d asked. _

_ ‘I’m not going to have sex with you, especially with you this drunk.” _

_ ‘You know, I’m sick of you telling me no,” Orion had told her, his booze-filled breath washing over Artemis and sent a shudder of disgust down her. He’d been playing with a strand of hair and his lips were right next to her ear. He’d leaned down and pressed his lips against hers roughly, his meaty hands had grabbed her hips in order to pull her closer. _

_ “We’re doing this whether you like it or not,” Orion had continued against her lips, pulling back once Artemis’ vision had started to blur. He’d started to pull Artemis’ sweatshirt up when she’d pushed him off her. _

_ “I said no, Orion.” _

And then he’d hit her, punched her next to the eye in his anger. Artemis told her that she tried to up and leave, but made the unfortunate decision to shouldering him on her way past. He’d grabbed her shoulder roughly, probably hard enough to leave bruises but Artemis hadn’t checked, and she didn’t want to. He’d slapped her across the cheek this time, telling her that she couldn’t disrespect him like that. Then he’d lumbered back to their,  _ his _ , room muttering swear words directed towards Artemis the entire time. Then she’d come to Zoë’s. 

__

Zoë held Artemis as she curled into her and cried into her shirt. She didn’t even think to complain about how the damp fabric felt against her skin, not even as a joke. She just whispered quiet reassurance into her best friend's ear while her own eyes stung. She dared not think of anything other than comforting Artemis while she was awake. But once her breathing had evened out, Zoë silently swore at and cursed Orion in every way she knew, then she forsook him to all of the different hells she could think of. Zoë fell asleep eventually, cradling Artemis after she wore herself out with all of her silent cursing and the sun had begun to peak over the horizon. 

They both slept well and passed their morning classes and ended up skipping their other classes, instead, they ate crappy ice cream, greasy pizza, and watched cartoons. Zoë ended up missing her Criminal Justice test but figured after explaining, with Artemis' permission, she could reschedule. Either way, it wouldn’t matter, Zoë was perfectly fine with failing a class in order to comfort her friend. Not that a silly test like that would make her fail. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yay, you read this! Whew, this was a lot longer than I intended, it was supposed to be short and sweet, but I just kept writing and writing. Cool, now first I want to apologize if I've gotten anything wrong or have offended anybody with the way I portrayed Orion and Artemis' relationship, this is primarily based off of things I've read not what I've experienced because I've never been in a relationship much less an abusive one. 
> 
> Now, this fic was out of my comfort zone in so many ways and was hard to write but I hope you've enjoyed it. This is me trying to figure out Zoe and Artemis' relationship dynamic and how they know how to fight for themselves but they also fight for each other. In this, I'm not saying that Artemis doesn't know how to stand up for herself - you can see that she does if you read the flashback part and how she ended it once she realized how wrong the relationship was - it's just this is her first actual relationship, so she didn't know anything was wrong for the longest of times. Because of this Zoe takes care of her, it doesn't mean that Artemis is helpless. 
> 
> For clarification, Zoë currently gets an allowance from her dad which is what she used to rent the small apartment but she gets cut off once she displeases him. Artemis is dating Orion because she thinks it will appease her dad, not because she likes him. Zoë and Artemis have been friends forever and if you can't tell, they absolutely adore each other. And while Zoë realizes her feelings aren't completely platonic, she hides them and is why she is so amendment that Artemis is her 'friend' especially in her head. Zoë is currently studying to become a lawyer and Artemis has her heart set on a teacher. This is apart of the same universe as the hospital fanfic only almost a decade earlier. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading!


End file.
